The average American has security of propertyrights not found in any other country in the world.
He can place his surplus money in a bank with theassurance that his government will protect it， andmake good to him if the bank fails. If an Americancitizen wants to travel from one state to another heneeds no passport， no one’s permission. He maygo when he pleases， and return at will. Moreover，he may travel by train， private automobile， bus，airplane， or ship， as his pocketbook permits. InGermany， Russia， Italy， and most of the otherEuropean and Oriental countries， the people cannottravel with so much freedom， and at so little cost.
THE “MIRACLE” THAT HAS PROVIDED
THESE BLESSINGS
We often hear politicians proclaiming the
freedom of America， when they solicit votes， butseldom do they take the time or devote sufficienteffort to the analysis of the source or nature of this“freedom.” Having no axe to grind， no grudge toexpress， no ulterior motives to be carried out， Ihave the privilege of going into a frank analysis ofthat mysterious， abstract， greatly misunderstood“SOMETHING” which gives to every citizen ofAmerica more blessings， more opportunities toaccumulate wealth， more freedom of every nature，than may be found in any other country.
I have the right to analyze the source and natureof this UNSEEN POWER， because I know， and haveknown for more than a quarter of a century， many ofthe men who organized that power， and many whoare now responsible for its maintenance.
The name of this mysterious benefactor of mankind is CAPITAL！
CAPITAL consists not alone of money， but moreparticularly of highly organized， intelligent groupsof men who plan ways and means of using moneyefficiently for the good of the public， and profitablyto themselves.
These groups consist of scientists， educators，chemists， inventors， business analysts， publicitymen， transportation experts， accountants， lawyers，doctors， and both men and women who have highlyspecialized knowledge in all fields of industry andbusiness. They pioneer， experiment， and blaze trailsin new fields of endeavor. They support colleges，hospitals， public schools， build good roads， publishnewspapers， pay most of the cost of government，and take care of the multitudinous detail essential tohuman progress. Stated briefly， the capitalists are thebrains of civilization， because they supply the entirefabric of which all education， enlightenment andhuman progress consists.
Money， without brains， always is dangerous.
Properly used， it is the most important essential ofcivilization. The simple breakfast here describedcould not have been delivered to the New Yorkfamily at a dime each， or at any other price， iforganized capital had not provided the machinery，the ships， the railroads， and the huge armies oftrained men to operate them.
Some slight idea of the importance of ORGANIZEDCAPITAL may be had by trying to imagine yourselfburdened with the responsibility of collecting，without the aid of capital， and delivering to the NewYork City family， the simple breakfast described.
To supply the tea， you would have to make a trip to China or India， both a very long way fromAmerica. Unless you are an excellent swimmer， youwould become rather tired before making the roundtrip. Then， too， another problem would confront you.
What would you use for money， even if you had thephysical endurance to swim the ocean？
To supply the sugar， you would have to take anotherlong swim to Cuba， or a long walk to the sugar beetsection of Utah. But even then， you might comeback without the sugar， because organized effort andmoney are necessary to produce sugar， to say nothingof what is required to refine， transport， and deliver itto the breakfast table anywhere in the United States.
The eggs， you could deliver easily enough fromthe barn yards near New York City， but you wouldhave a very long walk to Florida and return， beforeyou could serve the two glasses of grapefruit juice.
You would have another long walk， to Kansas，or one of the other wheat growing states， when youwent after the four slices of wheat bread.
The Rippled Wheat Biscuits would have to be omitted from the menu， because they would notbe available except through the labor of a trainedorganization of men and suitable machinery， ALL OFWHICH CALL FOR CAPITAL.
While resting， you could take off for another littleswim down to South America， where you wouldpick up a couple of bananas， and on your return， youcould take a short walk to the nearest farm having adairy and pick up some butter and cream. Then yourNew York City family would be ready to sit downand enjoy breakfast， and you could collect your twodimes for your labor！
Seems absurd， doesn’t it？ Well， the proceduredescribed would be the only possible way thesesimple items of food could be delivered to the heartof New York City， if we had no capitalistic system.
The sum of money required for the building and maintenance of the railroads and steam shipsused in the delivery of that simple breakfast is sohuge that it staggers one’s imagination. It runs intohundreds of millions of dollars， not to mentionthe armies of trained employees required to manthe ships and trains. But， transportation is only apart of the requirements of modern civilization incapitalistic America. Before there can be anything tohaul， something must be grown from the ground， ormanufactured and prepared for market. This calls formore millions of dollars for equipment， machinery，boxing， marketing， and for the wages of millions ofmen and women.